240zBoy Posted July 9, 2013 Share Posted July 9, 2013 So i have been rewiring using the ez kit and at the dash have the revolution rpm tach and speedo. The dash light power wire I have coming from a gm headlight switch provided 12v when off and 14v when on to the dash lighting. The dash lights work on everything but are very dim on my middle gauge pods. The minute I turn the car on none of them work. I just have one single power wire going to each gauge light, all spliced from that initial dash light power wire. This wiring seems wrong to me haha and should be the reason they are not working. My headlights are not running on relays either but I unplugged them and saw no increase in dash bulb brightness. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
240zBoy Posted July 9, 2013 Author Share Posted July 9, 2013 (edited) I am going to wire up a headlight relay like I use to have just to make sure, would a dash light relay be a good idea? edit: Just wired up a headlight relay and nothing really changed. I rechecked voltage and it sends 12v to gauges when on now, dunno why that changed. Edited July 9, 2013 by 240zBoy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noelawinslow Posted July 9, 2013 Share Posted July 9, 2013 Do you still have the inital switch setup? When I wired in some of my prosport gauges, to keep them on during daylight I added a wire to the stock headlamp switch so with the switch off the lights are on, added the needle to constant 12v+, and then ran a relay to the ignition wire that switches the ground on only when the car is set to on or start. Works beautifully. Where did you wire the relay to? Is the switch supposed to have a voltage regulator in it to limit the voltage to EXACTLY 12v? The z actually operates in the 13.4 to 14 range, so 12v isn't enough to power a lot of lights, especially the original bulbs. Try swapping out to LEDs, much easier to get to work properly and adafruit, sparkfun, and ebay have them for cheep. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
240zBoy Posted July 10, 2013 Author Share Posted July 10, 2013 Well I can faintly see the bulbs on when the car is not on and they are being fed 12v. That would definately explain why they are dim. I am going to redo the grounds tommorow though and definately consider the led mod. The only thing bugging me is that the revolution gauges illumination turns off also when the car is on. This is what is making me think the grounds might not be good enough. Probably a combination of the fact that the other bulbs are 14.4v. I remember seeing something about led's that are plug and play but I am also aware that they are very voltage sensitive so some research is definately in my future haha. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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